Action in the U.K. has been coordinated by the working group set
up in June 1998 by the National Museum Directors’ Conference (NMDC)
which is chaired by the director of the Tate, Sir Nicholas Serota.
Full details of the research taking place in museums and galleries
across the UK can be seen on the government’s
Collections Trust website. Reports are provided by each
institution, including the British Museum, of items for which
further information is sought and the provenance is uncertain or
incomplete for the period 1933–1945. In such cases where it is
known that an object was forcibly obtained by the Nazis, every
effort has been made to ascertain that it was correctly restituted
at the end of World War II and that the Museum’s subsequent
acquisition was made with good title. Those interested in enquiring
about specific items should contact the institution concerned.
Claims may be subject to review and recommendation by the UK
government Spoliation Advisory Panel.

The value and portability of works on paper, particularly Old
Master drawings, has meant that special emphasis has been paid to
provenance research in the Department of Prints and Drawings. Few
drawings have an unbroken provenance history from their time of
creation to the present day, and it is often difficult to ascertain
their ownership during the critical period of 1933-1945. Research
on the departmental register and letter books has recently
eliminated some 860 drawings from the enquiry by clarifying
ownership details; work continues in this area when resources are
available. All the known information on the history of ownership of
the Museum’s collection, together with images, of well over 50,000
British and Continental European drawings is available through
the
collection online. Where the Museum has been unable to confirm
ownership details of a drawing, the following statement has been
added to the online record: ‘This item has an uncertain or
incomplete provenance for the years 1933–45. The British Museum
welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and
clarification of the provenance of all works during that era’
and brief details of these drawings are listed here: Continental
drawings (PDF) and here: British
drawings (PDF). When spoliation questions have arisen regarding
drawings in the British Museum, such as the works that were found
to have been seized from Dr Arthur Feldmann in 1939, they have been
promptly investigated and resolved.

Parmigianino, Holy Family, c.1530–40,
formerly in the Feldmann collection, acquired by the British Museum
in 1946
BM 1946,1116.1